It has been a tumultuous and stressful couple of of weeks here at Comstock Films. The thrill we felt at the prospect of DAMON AND HUNTER playing in front of a large audience in a real movie house has given way to (at various times) doubt, despair, and anger; sometimes all three at once. In the upset of it all, I sort of lost sight of why I make these films.

I make these films, because I believe depictions of truly joyous and wholesome sex, depictions that represent the overwhelmingly positive and important role that our sexuality plays in our humanity are all but absent from the cinematic landscape. Moreover, in an age where it is easier than ever to see sexually explicit imagery, it is harder than ever to find imagery that reflects the common reality of sex: that sex is nice; that sex is normal; that sex is good.

The day after the sold out Melbourne screenings, when QueerScreen got in touch with us and asked if they could screen DAMON AND HUNTER at their upcoming queerDOC festival, we were thrilled and honored by their interest in the film. The success in Melbourne hinted at it, and the invitation to QueerDOC seemed to confirm that I had finally created a film that transcended its explicit sexual content without giving up its erotic power in the bargain, a film that people could be proud to fight for in the face of the repressive laws and regressive attitudes that can make it so hard to make these films.

When QueerScreen asked to show DAMON AND HUNTER, they knew what kind of film it was, and exactly what the rules were regarding screening an X-rated film in Australia. If they had any hesitation about screening the film in it’s entirety, that should have been addressed at the time. That could have given me the time to consider if and how I might alter DAMON AND HUNTER so that it could be screened legally.

Instead, Comstock Films has, under the pressure of eleventh hour circumstances, been made to be the advocate for this screening on QueerDOC’s behalf. Through each stage of this tumult, salaried bureaucrats have offered vague and conflicting advice on how the film might be altered to gain OFLC approval. Each iteration of changes costs Comstock Films in time, money, and aggravation.

What have we got for our trouble? Yesterday the OFLC told us that the stink we’ve raised over DAMON AND HUNTER will be a factor in our future dealing with them. “Tread lightly” was their advice as to how I speak about any re-cut of my film. The intimation, and intimidation is clear: for daring to question their application of the law in this case Comstock films will receive unwelcome special attention in our future submissions.

Ten years ago, when I started making these films, it was with the idea that I was going to make films about sex that I wanted to make, films that I wanted to see; not the films I thought would sell, and certainly not the films I thought would get by the censors.

DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER represents ten years of risk, sacrifice, and uncompromising work to achieve that vision. The organizers of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival felt that the film was worth putting themselves at risk to show their audience. The DVD is available at retailers throughout Australia who believe it is worth defying the law to make this film available to customers, including retailers that stock no other X-rated DVDs. Between M.U.F.F. and QueerDOC programers,more than 30 years of festival programing experience says that DAMON AND HUNTER is a film that deserves to be seen – in a theater, by an audience.

We’ve already done all we can do in an attempt to produce a version of DAMON AND HUNTER that QueerDOC feels it can screen, and in so doing, we’ve cut the very heart out of this film. DAMON AND HUNTER is a film about sex, and about the simple truth that sex is one of the most beautiful and important things that two people can do together. It’s too much. We’ve worked to hard for too long to make these films the way they need to be made, to now bend over backwards, and spend time and money we don’t have, all for the chance to show an eviserated version of our film to a few hundred people in Sydney.

I have been a photographer my entire adult life. In the name of bearing witness to the human condition I’ve documented unspeakable suffering, violence, and death; and for that I’ve been praised as a courageous witness. When I review the scope of people, places and events that have passed before my lens, I find myself unable to understand the censor’s rational for “protecting” adults from photographic images of sexuality. But allowing that I could be wrong about that, certainly adults don’t need to be protected from a film like DAMON AND HUNTER . DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER is a film about what’s best in all of us.

DAMON AND HUNTER: DOING IT TOGETHER is a film about sex. It’s a film made to be seen by grownups who want to see it. It has sex in it – lots of it. Whether or not DAMON AND HUNTER seen at QueerDOC is up to them.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 30th, 2006 at 2:30 pm and is filed under Censorship, Damon & Hunter, OFLC, film festivals, queerDOC. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.